With the EU noise ban (although likely less stringent then originally planned) being in place soon will there be a market for modern turboprop cargo planes to gradually replace the B727-200F, IL-76 and AN-24/26/28/30/32? The former two are (often) too noisy or an upgrade costs too much, the latter are already approaching high age.

There is most definatly a market for the airplane, as long as it is marketed properly for airlines, and military/government customers....The EU, through Airbus is working on an airplane right now, that is basically exactly what the AN70 already is, it is beyond me why they would spend billions developing another airplane to do the same job of one that already exists and is built in Europe (In a country that is a potential future EU member) And to top it all off the AN70 is much much cheaper then the airbus will be.....

"Clive Beddoe says he favours competition, but his actions do not support that idea." Robert Milton - CEO Air Canada

Slawko... whom are you TELL this?? Unfortunately this country I live in is run by politicians who don´t really have a clue what is a good choice. I´ll just shortly line out why the An-70 is a better choice for Germany:

* aquisition costs are cheaper
* offers a better performance (speed, especially payload/range)
* has been offered a final assembly line to be established in Germany
* Antonov will pay for "westernization" of the plane (which ultimately increases over-all market chances)
* the political component: there is no better way to help another nation then working together on a large-scale high-tech project.

The money Antonov would get from the sale of the AN-70 to Germany would eventually give them the funds to develop the An-70 into a commercial freighter and the option to improve their designs further - and it would bring the Ukraine closer to Europe.

Still, as long as politicians only hear to the crap they have been told be someone high in their party and not the part of the government/military which has the real knowledge nothing good will come out... I lately spoke with a politician (who is member of our parlament) and when I asked him about the An-70 the respons was: "What should we do with such an old, Russian, unreliable plane?" This unfortunaltely shows that politicians are usually not as up to date as they should be...

BTW,are you able to compile a list of all airlines/air forces which have expressed interest in this bird? I know that the Czech Air Force wanted two but I don´t know if this is still current...

If it does not succeed...
What a waste to be spending millions re-inventing the
wheel...
Problem is that the same mistake was made with the Eurofighter,
so it is already the second stupid decision on the development
of the European aerospace industry. I don't know how many of
these it can survive.
There are products of the ex-soviet aerospace industry that
could complement the product range of Western Europe's
manufacturers at a bargain cost, but the politicians fail to
realize this.

If Antonov can work with the Germans to build a Westernized An-70 freighter, I think there may be a lot more interest in the plane than people think.

A modern cargo transport plane is desperately needed in Africa, where too many nations got burned (in many cases quite literally) by second-hand ex-USSR stock Antonov transport planes such as the An-8, An-12, An-24 and An-26. Small wonder why many African nations have banned the use of these planes, and even UAE's Sharjah airport might ban them too.

The An-70 would not only be up to date, but also be easily upgraded to meet the latest ICAO noise and exhaust emission rules. That means the plane could easily be sold for Western customers.

Dear Ray!
Who else than Angola have banned some Antonovs
(with the big loop hole "civil use" so the military still
can fly them?).
As for the An-70 being a future star in Europe and
Africa, well, 2 crashes so far and I´m at least sceptical
against the future of the An-70. But hopefully I´m wrong because Antonov need a newer product...